Sourav Ganguly says no to BJP ticket, 2014 job offer

A day after it was reported that the BJP had offered former India captain Sourav Ganguly a ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Bengal sports icon on Saturday said it was not something he was considering and that his ‘job is in the field’.

A day after it was reported that the BJP had offered former India captain Sourav Ganguly a ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Bengal sports icon on Saturday said it was not something he was considering and that his ‘job is in the field’.

It is learnt that the offer came from the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who reportedly also promised to make the former cricketer the sports minister.

Speaking to the media at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Ganguly shrugged off the offer saying his place was not in the assembly, “I have told them my job is on the field”.

Asked if he would be open to a Rajya Sabha seat, Ganguly merely shook his head.

On Friday, Ganguly had confirmed that he had received an offer from the BJP.

Speculation about Ganguly joining the BJP had been doing the rounds since he met Varun Gandhi in the Capital in October.

Gandhi himself had played down the media reports and told HT that the offer to Ganguly was being exaggerated. “We did have a conversation with him, but it was very general in nature. What is being made out in the media is just speculation,” Gandhi said.